Abstract
AbstractPigeonpea (Cajanus cajan [L.] Millspaugh) is an important multipurpose grain legume crop primarily grown in tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, Africa and Latin America. In Africa, the crop is grown for several purposes including food security, income generation, livestock feed and in agroforestry. Production in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) is however faced with many challenges including limited use of high‐yielding cultivars, diseases and pests, drought, under‐investment in research and lack of scientific expertise. The aim of this review is to highlight the challenges facing pigeonpea breeding research in ESA and the existing opportunities for improving the overall pigeonpea subsector in the region. We discuss the potential of the recently available pigeonpea genomic resources for accelerated molecular breeding, the prospects for conventional breeding and commercial hybrid pigeonpea, and the relevant seed policies, among others, which are viewed as opportunities to enhance pigeonpea productivity.
Highlights
Climate change and nutritional food security have attracted global concerns in the recent years (Dyal et al 2009)
Economic growth in most African countries has experienced an upward trend over the last 5 years, the continent is still considered most susceptible to climate change due to its vulnerability and inability to cope with the physical, human and socio-economic consequences of climate extremes (Kabasa and Sage 2009)
Sustainable solutions to agriculture and food security in Africa must consider more focused research efforts on locally adapted, highly nutritious and stress-tolerant crops alongside sustainable government support to agricultural research and development. One such crop with potential to cope with climate change and provide nutritional food security is pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan [L.] Millspaugh)
Summary
Some studies (Leslie 1976, Purseglove 1976, Singh et al 2001) favoured the origin of pigeonpea in Africa. Many other studies (Van der Maesen 1990, Fuller and Harvey 2006, Saxena et al 2014) suggest India as the origin of the crop. Africa harbours only two wild species of pigeonpea: C. kerstingii Harms and C. scarabaeiodes (L.) Thouars (Van der Maesen 1990). In Africa and the Far East, pigeonpea has been grown for at least 4000 years (Van der Maesen 1980) and considerable agro-ecological adaptation has been obtained locally. The traditional African pigeonpea genotypes are long-duration, cream- and large-seeded (Remanandan 1990). Uganda was the first country in ESA to implement a pigeonpea breeding programme in 1968 at Makerere University (Saxena 2008). There is a scope to expand further under sustainable intensification of Pigeonpea breeding in ESA
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